Down For The Count
by hallow777
Summary: WARNING SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE! Which if you know what the spoiler is, you know exactly why this is labeled ANGST. No fluff here. It wasn't supposed to end this way, that bullet was meant for her, not him.


**WARNING WARNING SAD/ANGSTY FIC AHEAD.**

**This is not my normal writing stuff. I repeat, this is not my normal stuff! **

**Also please keep in mind the fact that I mostly write fluffy (some times cheesy) happy stuff. This is my first really seriously depressing fic (Unless I'm forgetting about one). This isn't my forte, but I think I did decent on it.**

**SPOILERS! SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE! Someone is going to die. I know a lot of people think it's going to be Montgomery, but I think that might be just a tad too obvious so I think it will be...**

**Drum roll please...**

**Papa Beckett. (Aka Jim Beckett, Kate's father.) **

**So clearly, according to Mogie, this makes no sense, so I won't try to explain my reasoning since it will most likely just confuse everyone.**

**So with that in mind, continue on if you dare...**

**I do NOT own Castle.**

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><p>This wasn't right. It was never supposed to be this way.<p>

If anyone, it should have been her.

She would have been okay with taking that bullet, knowing that the man who murdered her mother was being hauled in by Ryan and Esposito right then.

She would have been at peace, after all, all was right with her world.

Of course, there were some things she would regret missing out on, but she would have been okay with that, if _this_ was the alternative.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

She was supposed to drive down to her father's house after they had gotten concrete evidence to put the man away for a long time, not even able to wait and see him thrown behind bars.

Her father was supposed to greet her with surprise on his face and she was going to give him the biggest hug she ever had as she told him she had finally caught the man who ripped apart their family twelve years ago.

That's how she imagined it as she drove down to her childhood home, and that's how it started out once she got there.

They both got misty-eyed and ended up just sitting on the porch for hours, just reminiscing about the past.

It was only when they headed inside the house that things went horribly wrong.

Apparently before Ryan and Esposito arrested that man, he ordered another hit.

This time, it was for Katherine Beckett.

While they were outside, the hit man picked the lock on the backdoor and was lying in wait for them when they walked in.

Beckett looked away from her father as they walked in the door, and the smile on her face instantly disappeared when she saw the man standing in the living room, leveling a gun at them.

She was reaching for her gun but she didn't have time to get it fully out before the hit man squeezed the trigger and her father slammed into her side to push her out of the way. While they were falling, Beckett got the gun out and squeezed off a few shots that hit the hit man straight in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground.

He wasn't going to be moving, so he wasn't a problem.

But the growing wetness on her side, and stomach, where her father had landed was definitely a big problem.

"No..." She whispered in shock, "Why, dad. Why?"

"Because my dear Katie... You have your whole life ahead of you...Just know...That I'm so proud of you..."

And then, just like that, he was gone. The bullet had entered in a strange way due to the way his body was when he pushed her out of the way, but it had still been a fatal hit.

Grabbing her phone and putting it on speaker after dialing 911, she desperately tried everything she could think of while she told the operator who she was and why she was calling.

Nothing was working, he was already gone.

She stayed kneeling by him for what seemed like hours- though it was only minutes- until the EMTs arrived and she scooted back against the wall to watch as they did their job, but there was nothing they could do for her father.

It was only when one of the doctors moved over to squat down in front of her, that she realized it was Josh.

"Kate?" Beckett turned her head away from him in response, not wanting to deal with him right now.

That worried him, a lot.

He could understand if she was crying and didn't want him to see her doing that, but there was not a tear in sight.

"Kate..." Reaching out to touch her face, Josh tried to get her to look at him. Only she slapped his hand away and was determined to not look at anyone. She was a person who kept to herself, maybe she just needed some time to herself to come to terms with what had happened, Josh thought and backed away to give her some space.

Even when Ryan and Esposito showed up a little while later, she wouldn't even acknowledge they were there.

When Castle came in just a few minutes after Ryan and Esposito, everyone expected her to respond to him.

But she didn't. She just kept staring at the same spot she had been, clearly lost in her thoughts. Castle walked right in front of her, squatting down and reaching out to get her to face him, unknowingly doing exactly what Josh had done.

Instead of slapping his hand away, she let him turn her head towards him and the vacant look in her eyes as she looked at- or maybe through him- scared him.

He gently let her face go and she turned back to stare at the same random spot, but Castle wasn't going to give up.

Sitting down next to her, he made sure there was a little space between them, but not much at all.

All around them people were going in and out, taking care of the bodies of both Jim Beckett and the hit man, and taking pictures of the crime scene though it was clear what had happened.

He wasn't sure how long they sat there side by side, but he would sit there as long as she needed him to.

Slowly Beckett started resting her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes tightly as if to block everything out.

Josh was just on the other side of the room watching them, but Castle didn't really care as he carefully slipped his arm her shoulders.

Only when she felt the warm weight of his arm on her shoulders did she finally break down, turning more fully into him so she could lean her head against his chest and clutch his shirt, tears running down her face as she mumbled into his chest.

"He's dead, Castle. Just like mom, he's dead." Over and over she repeated the same thing, and all he could do was sit there and hold her.

They stayed that way for a long while before a junior officer came in and announced that Beckett needed to give her statement. Nearly everyone in that room gave the officer looks that clearly said that he should leave her alone, but he had already snapped Beckett out of it.

She stood up on shaky legs and told the officer she would give her statement at the station, before heading out the door.

Castle immediately headed out after her and caught up to her as she tried to put the key into the car door, but her hands were shaking so bad that she couldn't.

He told her he would drive her back to the station, preparing for her to tell him no, but she surprised him by agreeing.

He would have felt more relieved if she had argued with him.

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><p>Once they got back to the precinct- after a very tense and silent car ride- Beckett was swept up in things she needed to do to close the case and Castle hovered around her.<p>

Until Josh showed up and pretty much took over Castle's duty of hovering around her and after getting a promise from Josh that he would take care of her, Castle reluctantly went home.

The next morning, he walked into the precinct bright and early- figuring that she would most likely throw herself into her work as her way of dealing with this- only to find out that she wasn't there.

And wouldn't be for a while.

Beckett had taken a two month leave from work, she'd be gone nearly all summer.

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><p><strong>So yeah, that's kinda how I think the finale might go. (Well except for her reaction, which I think might be out of character but then again, maybe not.)<strong>

**I really think that she will end up taking some kind of leave from work over the summer though. **

**Anyway, please don't be too hard on my first attempt at angst?**

**(Yes Down for the Count is another boxing reference. It's kinda the same as Knockout, but I didn't want to use Knockout.)**


End file.
